Validation of the Big Five Personality Scale for Ethiopian university students: exploring the psychometric properties of the Amharic version

Abstract

A growing body of research indicates that the big five personality scale is the most widely used tool for assessing personality traits. Translating and validating this scale in different languages is important to understand personality across diverse cultures. However, there is a lack of a reliable tool to measure big five personality in the Ethiopian context. The overarching purpose of this study was to develop and validate a psychometrically robust Amharic version of the Big Five personality scale that is culturally appropriate for the Ethiopian context. This study employed a cross-sectional survey design to gather data from 476 university students (Female = 232 and Male = 244) who were randomly selected from Ambo University. To analyse the data, the entire sample was divided randomly into two equal-sized groups for exploratory factor analysis (EFA, N = 238) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, N = 238). The findings from both EFA and CFA provided strong support for a Big Five Personality model (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) that displayed significant correlations. Furthermore, the Amharic version of the scale demonstrated improved compatibility with the collected data, exhibiting excellent psychometric properties in terms of content validity and construct validity and satisfactory internal consistency. In general, the findings suggest that the Amharic version of the Big Five Personality Scale has the potential to be effectively utilized within the Amharic-speaking communities in Ethiopia. Thus, the Amharic version of the scale can be considered as a viable option for assessing personality traits in the specific cultural and linguistic context of Ethiopia.

Keywords:

• Validation
• big five personality
• psychometric properties
• Ethiopia

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Michael Daly, Maynooth University: National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland

SUBJECTS:

• Introductory Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Counseling Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Testing, Measurement and Assessment
• Psychological Science

Acknowledgement

We express our gratitude to all individuals who directly and indirectly contributed to the completion of this study.

Data availability

The dataset produced and evaluated in this research can be obtained upon reasonable inquiry from the corresponding author.

Ethical consideration

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ambo University, Institute of Education and Behavioural Study and Department of Psychology (Ref. no. AU/Psy/Eth Co/011/2022). All participants voluntarily participated in the study and provide verbal informed consent.

Disclosure statement

The authors stated that they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose in relation to this study.

Figure 1. Model fit indices summary of the Big Five Personality Scale (Amharic version).

The hypothesized CFA model with five latent variables, each linked to the endogenous variables through factor loading and signifies the relationship between five factors and endogenous variables.

Additional information

Funding

The authors did not receive any external financial support for conducting this study

Notes on contributors

Tessema Amente

Tessema Amente is a doctoral candidate at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, specialising in applied developmental psychology. He has authored more than six publications that have stimulated additional research in the domains of behavioural sciences, psychology, and education. His areas of interest in research are family dynamics, child developmental disorders, intercultural intelligence, teenage personality development, and the factors that influence these areas. Tessema is well-known in Ethiopia for giving internally displaced communities and returnees training in life skills, psychological first aid, and mental health. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Seleshi Zeleke

Seleshi Zeleke is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Addis Ababa University. His research interests are in the areas of Educational Psychology (e.g., students’ academic achievement, student assessment, parenting styles, mathematical cognition, etc.) and Special Needs Education (e.g., developmental disability, inclusive education, etc.). He has produced many research reports, a book chapter and more than 20 journal articles. E-mail: [email protected]